Cctv

AmIBeingRobbed

I am just going through the house owners problem from hell. After a planning dispute my neighbour lost, there is ill feeling all round and a rapid descent into tit for tat getting out of control now involving several residents along the road.

My disgruntled neighbour has now out a CCTV under his front porch and:

1. Focuses into the sitting bay window so anyone on the settee will show on the footage
2. It also covers six adjacent front doors so anyone seeing the footage will know who is in and who is out

In my view, it seems an invasion of privacy, a form of harassment and a violation of a basic human right - to a private family life. At the moment, I do not know if the house is owned by a company which could bring the issue under the data protection act.

In addition to the above points, a CCTV camera pointing into your sitting room would devalue the house significantly.

Any thoughts ?

Gwhiz

I'm pretty sure that it is not lawful to point a CCTV into someones home. You can point it at another property, but if it can see into the property I feel you may have a cause to complain to the authorities.

Google offers some great advice.

G_M

http://www.gardenlaw.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=8429

http://www.problemneighbours.co.uk/cctv-privacy-and-the-law.html

http://www.nfh.org.uk/resources/Articles/cctv/

http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091207070126AAjga1U

Pixie5740

I'm not a legal expert but I think that neighbours are only allowed to point a CCTV camera at your property if they are detecting a crime. I assume that your neighbours are just being tits and not trying to detect a crime.

Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights does recognise a "right to respect for family life" and that everyone "has the right to respect for his private life, his home and his correspondence".

I suggest you speak to the police and/or seek professional legal advice. It really is creepy what your neighbour is doing. :eek:

Hump

Is it real?
If it is real then has the householder electronically 'masked' the windows so they cannot see?
Unless you've seen the actual streetscene image then don't assume it's got the coverage you fear - having seen a couple of systems installed the actual angle of view and depth of field will depend on the lens installed (and spacing elements). You might find that the bits that worry you are so blurred or distorted so as not to create a problem.

As you'll guess - it might prove difficult to establish the above!

Good luck though....

bouicca21

How do you know what can and cannot be seen on the CCTV? Presumably if things are as bad as you suggest you haven't been invited for drinkies and a CCTV viewing?

ruggedtoast

You can only point a fixed cctv camera at your own property. You can film people on the street without permission but if you are trying to build a case against them for something the footage will probably be inadmissible.

Your neighbour is breaking the law.

Yorkie1

Pixie5740 wrote: »

I'm not a legal expert but I think that neighbours are only allowed to point a CCTV camera at your property if they are detecting a crime. I assume that your neighbours are just being tits and not trying to detect a crime.

Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights does recognise a "right to respect for family life" and that everyone "has the right to respect for his private life, his home and his correspondence".

I suggest you speak to the police and/or seek professional legal advice. It really is creepy what your neighbour is doing. :eek:

Just to clarify that the ECHR only applies to public authorities so, whilst the law recognises a right to privacy, the neighbour is not bound by this specific right.

Jonboy_1984

AmIBeingRobbed wrote: »

At the moment, I do not know if the house is owned by a company which could bring the issue under the data protection act.

Just to touch on this bit and this bit only of your questions we investigated this when installing CCTV on a commercial premises.

The ICO office advised on the phone that if it is fixed camera then it is not covered by data protection rules.

If it can be moved by methods such as automatic tracking, timed movement or remote control then it is a data collection device and fully bound by data protection rules/requires the warning signs that give details of the data controller etc. etc..

Davesnave

It's possible that unpleasant action by someone else has led to this behaviour and your neighbour currently feels under threat. As you say, tit for tat escalation only takes everyone further downhill, so if it were me, I'd try to ignore this.

However if you really can't resist there's a fairly obvious Christmas present you could send to him anonymously....:)

http://www.play.com/Books/Books/4-/35208689/693860239/-/ListingDetails.html?_%24ja=tsid:13315%7Ccat:35208689%7Cprd:35208689&$$ja=cgid:7111944657|tsid:48121|cid:130773537|lid:54120402297|nw:g|crid:22715904897|rnd:3981551772054488470|dvc:c|adp:1o1|mt:

[Deleted User]

The Human Rights Act does apply to individuals so you could make a case for the right to privacy. I'd complain to the police, see if they can send a Community Support Officer round to get it pointed in a different direction.

If that fails buy a laser pointer and aim it directly at the camera lens to blind it.